Island Angels

SUMMARY

Lt. Torres appears at the Angels' patio table and asks for Julie's help in identifying a member of the Red Circle terrorist group whose shooting she witnessed while on vacation in Mexico City years earlier. Torres believes the same assassin is coming to Hawaii to fulfill another contract, and needs Julie to come to the airport in order to help catch him. Kelly, Kris and Bosley tag along, apparently having nothing better to do besides lounge around by the pool.

Everyone sits through a long, boring speech about how it's important that the assassin not be allowed to leave the airport. (Ya think?) They observe passengers disembarking, and sinister music tells us that the stern man in sniper sunglasses and a false mustache is the most likely suspect.

The Angels very awkwardly apprehend this man, but afterward, they worry that their assassin was way too easy to catch. Lt. Torres realizes that he was only a decoy meant to distract them while a second assassin entered undetected, as had been done with a previous Red Circle incident. (So why didn't they see it coming this time?)

In a unique new twist, someone must pretend to write a magazine article in order to solve the case! Julie and Bosley (photographer and editor of Single Life Magazine) infiltrate the Paradise Beach Hotel, where the complete tour group of suspects is conveniently staying, and stroll around the pool getting acquainted with sexy tour director Toni Green. She asks them to go easy on the photos, knowing that not all the "singles" really are single. Julie agrees, and then ambles along the beach in various swimsuits taking photos of literally every person she sees. Meanwhile, Toni approaches Bosley at the bar and hits on him while Kris (who's either the new barkeeper or the resort's only waitress) looks on with smirks.

A man named Jack Barrows gets angry when Julie snaps him giggling and coming ashore after a flirtatious bit of snorkeling with his girlfriend, Lisa Gallo. Lisa makes Bosley buy her a drink and explains that Jack's married and doesn't want his wife to find out he's fooling around.

After someone dressed in a burgling outfit rifles through her hotel room to steal the roll of film she'd been shooting, Julie is attacked when she discovers the culprit still hiding in the closet. She's able to break away and chase him partway down the hall, but he escapes from sight.

Later, she hits it off with reclusive suspect (Randolph Mantooth) when she literally falls onto his balcony while attempting to surreptitiously snap a photo. He's apparently flown all the way to Hawaii to sulk alone in a hotel room about his wife having an affair. Julie hangs around for a while marriage counselling.

Kris observes Jack Barrows as he returns from a shopping trip with a very unique-looking handbag. Not long after, he's discovered floating face down in the surf. An autopsy reveals he was poisoned; Kelly reports that it would have taken someone with medical knowledge to administer. Having befriended him earlier, Julie's reluctant to agree with everyone's suspicion of Dr. Mark Williams.

Kelly visits a charming boutique owned by a quiet Asian man who, without warning, and during a pleasant conversation about his customized handbags, begins karate chopping the air around her - a kung fu fight between the two of them ensues, which ends in a hilarious victory for Miss Garrett.

Bosley talks to Lisa Gallo, who's now distraught over Jack's death and is going home. Seconds later, Kelly appears with a primitively-photoshopped picture of the Red Circle members - including Lisa - along with the discovery that she used to be a nurse, meaning she would have known how to administer Jack's poison. Furthermore, Dr. Mark Williams is now missing from his room. Time for a mad dash to the airport!

After lengthy shots of everyone looking around the airport, then bountiful stock footage of planes landing and taking off, Lisa is finally spotted. Everyone confronts her, and she tries to pull a gun out of her purse. Kelly has an awkward struggle where she wrestles away the purse, but is ultimately defeated with a shove; Kris takes over, tackling Lisa mid-terminal, and she's hauled away by the cops.

Then Dr. Mark Williams appears, rushing through the terminal in a suspicious manner. Julie follows, but he's just here to embrace his wife, who had just landed at another gate. He thanks Julie for her advice, and everyone stands around, exchanging smiles and looking on with approval. "Sometimes there really is a happily ever after," Bosley announces. Uh, okay.

Back at the office (pool), Charlie reports calls from numerous world peace organizations thanking them for bringing in Lisa Gallo, who was apparently a really big deal. Julie is congratulated for her work as an excellent marriage counselor and super sleuth, and is welcomed to the team with hugs.

FILMING LOCATIONS

WHAT'D YOU THINK?

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CURIOSITIES

• Lt. Torres asks for Julie's help because only she can identify the assassin. Why do Bosley and Kris interrupt her and agree that they'll all help? They have nothing to do with it, and he didn't really ask. In fact, no one except Julie needed to be in this episode.

• Why do the police even need Julie to identify this guy at the airport if they have an 8x10 close-up photo of his face?

• One shot of Kelly is backwards during the conference with Lt. Torres at the airport.

• If you listen closely to Lt. Torres' phonecall, the voice on the other end sounds quite a bit like someone going "Blahblahblahblah."

• Kris claims to have worked one summer in her uncle's bar. Would this be Uncle Paul? Wouldn't want to stick one extra word of dialogue in there to actually give a character some solid background.

• The scene with Julie running down the same hallway in different directions going "Bos! Bosley! Bos!" is like something out of Mad TV's Glamazon Huntresses.

• Nobody wanted to pull Lyle Waggoner out of the water and actually make sure he was dead?

• The terribly-doctored photo Kelly shows to Bosley and Kris was the same one used in I Will Be Remembered. Even some of the same fake heads are still on there.
• How did Kris manage to change her hair and clothes during their mad rush to the airport?
• At the end of the airport scene, why are Kelly, Kris and Bosley still staring adoringly at the gate area when Mr. and Mrs. Williams have already walked away in the other direction?

BAD GUYS BEAT DOWN

FIGHTS LOST

SHOTS FIRED AT ANGELS

SHOTS FIRED BY ANGELS

DAYS TO SOLVE CASE

MARRIAGES SAVED

BIKINIS

CHARACTER DEATHS

ROMANCE

Bosley has some interest in what turned out to be the bad girl, but it wasn't genuine/serious enough for him to be upset. She asks if he'll call her when he gets to New York; all he says is "I don't get to New York very often." Ouch. A little white lie could have sufficed, especially since he was convinced she was innocent at that point.

JUDGMENT ZONE

Where there's a Bosley flirting, you can bet that nearby there's a Kris smirking and judging. Apparently her entire job consists of hanging around Bosley, serving him drinks, and then laughing at him for talking to women. Get a life, Kris - you're in Hawaii, go find some shirtless dude to flirt with. Did she have to, y'know, work at all? Didn't anyone else ever order a drink?

WE'RE A FAMILY

After the case is wrapped up, everyone welcomes Julie to the "family" and praises her for a job very well done (even though it has undertones of "that was pretty good considering you're not even remotely a cop"). Even Charlie says that she's one of the fastest learners he's ever seen. (Um, all she did was take pictures and chat with Randolph Mantooth, but whatever.) Interesting to note that they waited until Julie's 4th episode to do this. Yeah, it's the first real case she helped solve since To See an Angel Die and Angels of the Deep were informal situations, but still.

Anyway, it was nice to see the new girl welcomed warmly to the team, and congratulated on a good performance by her veteran colleagues. Just like they did with Tiffany. Oh, wait.

GET IT, BOSLEY

After nearly 100 episodes, we're so over the Angels getting hit on. Here's one where nobody so much as gives any of the girls a second glance - not even Julie in a bikini - but Bosley's getting hit on in practically every scene by multiple high-caliber women. Must be that tropical breeze rustling through his false mustache.

GUEST STARS

This episode doesn't give you a tremendous lot to work with, but you can try to improve the situation by imagining that it's a Charlie's Angels - Wonder Woman - Emergency! mega 70's TV crossover. We wanted Lynda Carter to come spinning out of nowhere and revive Lyle Waggoner, or at least have Randolph Mantooth come over and tell us his blood pressure reading.

SCREEN TIME ANALYSIS

This is one of only 6 episodes where Bosley has more screen time than any Angel; after that, it's Julie's show.

KELLY

KRIS

JULIE

BOSLEY

HOW MUCH OF THE EPISODE HAS AT LEAST ONE ANGEL/BOSLEY IN IT79%

ACTION

Kelly's sudden, awkward, slow-motion choreographed karate fight with the elderly shop owner is not to be missed. This is the perfect example of Kelly's Season 5 tendency to look bored for the entire hour, but then dole out extremely sudden ass-kickings that are somehow a lot funnier than they are cool. Later, Kelly gets owned in a minor scuffle with Lisa Gallo and Kris has to take over with her signature tackle-takedown move in the middle of a crowded airport terminal.

These two moments are the only parts of this episode really worth seeing.

FASHION

All females (including Angels) wear either swimsuits or those brightly colored semi-floral-print dresses that look like the Mr. Pibb-stained carpet at a Peter Piper Pizza that hasn't been renovated since 1986.

Mr. Bosley of Single Life Magazine actually didn't look bad with his fake(?) mustache, gold chain, and unbuttoned shirt. (Of course, "unbuttoned" for Bosley is more buttoned than Jill on an average day, but you still get the effect.)

STUNTMEN IN WIGS

The airport tackle scene was also a little distracting due to Kris' stunt double, who looked a lot more like Judy Landers as the linen service ditz from Love Boat Angels than Cheryl Ladd.

REPEAT OFFENDERS

Soon-Tek Oh's recurring character, Lt. Torres, appeared in three other Hawaii episodes - Angels of the Deep, Waikiki Angels, and Hula Angels.

Don Knight: Ober previously played Orwell from Mother Goose is Running for His Life.

Don Chaffey also directed Mother Angel, Terror on Skis, Angels on the Street, Angels on Skates, Angels on Campus, Harrigan's Angel, Nips and Tucks, He Married an Angel, and Mr. Galaxy.

Robert George also wrote Angels of the Deep, Hula Angels, and Taxi Angels.

OUR TAKE

Holly's Rating: Ah, what joy Jaclyn Smith's ridiculous mano-a-mano battle brings me - it is truly the only highlight in this episode; not one shred of this strange little scene makes any sense. Another amusing moment finds Julie frantically racing down the same hallway twice...repeating the same recorded dialogue twice. The "we're a family" wrap-up on the patio smacks much of the irritating familial moment at the end of Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle.

Anna's Rating:Meh. Another case of too many Angels and not enough going on. Kris hangs around the bar doing nothing, and Kelly literally phones in almost the entire case while standing next to Lt. Torres' desk at the police department. But it was a good vehicle for Julie to be competent and likeable. Randy Mantooth and Lyle Waggoner were cute though (despite the latter being under-utilized).

ONE OF THE BEST EPISODES OF SEASON 5 WITH TANYA ROBERTS. GOOD ACTING AND ACTION. JACLYN DOESNT SEEM THAT TIRED IN THIS EPISODE BECAUSE SHE WAS SECOND FIDDLE TO TANYA. GUESS SHE COULD MUSTER UP THE ENERGY TO DO HER SCENES.

IF YOU NOTICE WHEN THE PEOPLE ARE GETTING OFF AT THE GATE OF THE PLANE IN THE FIRST PART IN THE AIRPORT THE FLOOR IS FILTHY.. DONUTS, PAPER, TRASH.. I COULDNT BELIEVE THEY WOULD SHOOT THE SCENE LIKE THAT!

Vavessey

This is such a great episode. One of the best in season
#5. There is tons of action, from Julie being shoved into a closet, to Kelly
kicking some serious but in the karate-chop department, and even Kris gets to
have the final take-down in the airport. The angels look great, while Tanya
receives some wonderful close-ups! (Those eyes). The final warp-up at the end
was endearing and really helped to make these Angels…a TEAM!

belenpakantot

those eyes were scary! that would have made tanya perfect for a gothic-horror show like “dark shadows” (eeek, in tanya’s case, thick eye shadows) or a zombie show like “walking dead” but for a show like “charlie’s angels”, tanya just didn’t fit in!!!

belenpakantot

congratulations for doing NOTHING substantial??? that’s hardly the kind of member you’d like to have on your team. no wonder this show went from its 5th season premiere to cancellation hell faster than a speeding bullet travelling at warp speed!!! oh, julie… you were probably meant to be a scary brawling klingon!

Jimbo

I thought this was a fun and sexy episode.

Heather

haha i liked when julie fell on the porch 🙂

Heather

You are definitely right about them not congratulating Tiffany like they did Julie…in fact, in Angel Hunt it was HER saying that she was glad to work with THEM, and basically pouring her heart out while they all looked on. She always seemed like the Angel who wasn’t accepted. In her first episode, she even addressed that concern to Bosley. What’s up with that?!? Kris was accepted cus she was Jill’s sister, Julie cus she was replacing the unaccepted Tiffany… But Tiffany was never accepted, cus she was replacing the rock of the show, Sabrina. Highly unfair!! Tiffany (and Shelley’s) treatment all around on this show was abysmal.

belenpakantot

that’s correct. julie didn’t do anything substantial here so why were they congratulating her?!? so the writers could show that these new trio have good teamwork and rapport??? puuuuhleezzz!!! that was as fake as tanya’s thick eye make-up and red-dyed hair. everything about this season felt fake, starting with the new angel who didn;t even have police training. poor tanya, she really fell on her ass with this unfortunate stint in the show. she was just so out of place and the production was merely interested in seeing her jiggling her jiggles in a bikini and nothing more. in a show that was already gasping its last breath, tanya was like those icky, wriggly little worms waiting for their ugh, desserts